Chapter 20

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"So is it just bunny drivers, or…"

"NICK!" Judy barked, jolting the car forwards and spinning the wheel in her paws, all as a bunch of car horns blared out. "Any other time you can pull the bunny drivers routine, but not this time! Or do you actually want fox abuse?"

"After the watershed, please," Nick said, as Judy began driving along, grumbling as she went.

"Why are they even driving on the wrong side of the road?"

To spare the fox, Basil spoke up. "I believe we enunciated this on the boat ride over."

Judy just grumbled, telling herself to stick to the left hand side of the road, especially as she turned across a junction and lined herself up for the correct lane. Thankfully, after pulling past the tall skyscrapers and busy traffic of the foreshore, they were on the home stretch, pulling up into the parking lot of the Islands Central precinct. While the ZPD Precinct 1 Building had been inspired by proud rock monoliths in the savanna, where ancient royal lion courts had once ruled from, observing their dominion from up on high, the Outback Precinct instead chose to go down.

Getting out on the lot and walking under the lip of a high raised glass ceiling, they looked in through a perimeter glass wall to see a circular pit drop down four or five storeys, as if a giant cookie cutter had been taken to the earth. Both the wide open floor and the walls were covered in lush greenery, with openings in the former offering glimpses into office spaces or cell areas.

"Well," a voice called in an Outback accent. "We couldn't just do another Uluru, could we?"

They turned, and Judy's ears went slightly askew as a large camel in ZPD blues came up and held out his hoof. "You're the mainlanders we asked for, right?"

"Yeah," Judy said, paw going up into a salute. "Officer Judy Hopps."

"Nick Wilde," the fox said, before pointing down at the mice in his pocket. "Detectives Dawson and Dawson."

"Hello!" they chirped.

"Acting Chief Wade Mahumptet," he greeted.

"Where's Chief Ramic?" Dave asked.

"Holiday," he remarked. "Right, we got the prospective little blighter still at his school, so that's where we're going."

Judy nodded. "We'll hop in the back then," she said.

Wade looked up at Nick. "Bunny drivers?"

Judy's nose twitched right up.

"Wrong side of the road," the fox said casually.

"Right-o," he said, before giving Judy a look. "Don't worry, Bun-girl. Seems you're not a stain on your species' vehicular reputation."

She crossed her paws. "Thank you."

"-We deal with enough of them to know they don't have one. Right, c'mon." He led them off towards his car, the bunny and fox following behind.

"So, Mr Know it all," she began. "What's the story behind a camel in Outback Island?"

The fox shrugged. "I don't know, ask him."

Judy crossed her paws. "Is that a confession that you don't know everything?"

"I never claimed that I did," he retorted.

"What," she said, "with your history of Outback Island on the way over…"

"That's like a Zoo Yorker knowing the history of Ratten Island or something," the fox waved off. "I got bored when waiting to meet someone here and had a walk around the museum."

"Oh," she carried on. "And what about your great knowledge of Chinese history?"

"-I literally only said the names of three of the most important figures in the modern history of the world's biggest country, that's it." The fox frowned. "What you're doing is like claiming a Chinese mammal who knows who Benjamin Franklynx and Thomas Heifferson were should by default be able to explain the major players, causes and course of the war of eighteen-twelve. And besides, if I wanted to learn it, I could have. I just don't think Australian History is that deserving of my respect."

"What, mean to foxes or something?"

"I don't know," he said, shrugging. "I just find it hard to take seriously."

As he said it they jumped up into the passenger seat of Wade's car, the camel turning the key and pushing off, quickly moving them along, parallel to the coast. "Just a short drive over, nothing too far," he said, as his passengers relaxed a bit, Judy especially using the time to have a look around. This part of the island was very much like the built up areas of Savannah Central, the one big difference being that many of the skyscrapers took on one or two distinct shapes. The first was like a very well melted candle, round at the top and with the walls almost seeming to drip and drape off like a very tall earthen mound. The second were similar, except for appearing almost impossibly flat, only a small taper visible as they moved past the side. Both types were painted in earthen tones ranging from light grey to an earthy red.

The other thing she noticed was that, along with the kangaroos and other expected mammals, there were a lot of other mammals she was far more used to seeing in Zootopia proper. Lots of sheep, lots of bunnies, lots of foxes and, as they turned a corner, a bunch of camels. Wade slowed down, opening his window and calling out to them. "Hey, Fuzzy!"

"Yeah Wade?" one of them called back.

"You were right about your girlfriend, she is something!" He gave a wink and an okay sign from one hoof, driving off as the camelid yelled back his own insult. The acting chief just smirked. "Ah, the Sahara imports are always the funnest," he chuckled, changing gears and pushing on.

Judy's ears rose. "Sahara import? So did you come straight from Australia then, or?"

"Yup. Tons of camels in Australia. I think, two-hundred thousand of them or something. My great, great, great, great grandfather was part of the great camel importation to try and survey the outback. You want to claim a bunch of desert, you bring in the camels. Of course, when they arrived they found themselves caught up in the most important part of the nation's history, and soon found themselves armed and fighting in the great dividing war!"

Nick gave Judy a look. "Well, you wanted it."

"-Basically when the first european settlers arrived and founded their first cities in half a dozen places, they found the land full with about fifty million kangaroos, plus a bunch of other natives. So it wasn't as if they could just go and claim land everywhere, it was full up of the marzie's and dingoes who wouldn't like that, and weren't having a bunch of wars that could be powerplayed to get themselves on top. So wherever they went, the settlers claimed a bunch of land, set aside a bunch for the locals and taught them to farm so they'd have enough food and not decide to boomerang the new guys back into the water. And it worked! For a bit. They got the big few cities set up full of settlers and convicts, Bilby Bay and all that, and a bunch of nice farms on the east coast, but then they found all the rest of the east coast claimed up by bouncing locals who'd figured the game out and outnumbered them twenty to one and now had guns. They couldn't fight against that, but they had enough guys and weapons to do the classic invade and take if they were up against tribe-mammals again. And across the Great Dividing Range they thought there'd be plenty of land they could take for themselves."

"And was there?" Judy asked.

"Well yeah. There were also an absolute cuss ton of marzies and dingos who'd just started getting guns and learning to farm, who did not want to give them up and so decided to fight back. So anyway…"

A while later, the cruiser pulled along a winding eucalyptus lined street, passing by the houses of suburban Outback Island, pausing at a pair of traffic lights to let a bunch of koalas across. "-And so after defeating what seemed like the major attack on Barkhurst, the defenders assumed the marzie army would at most be forced to regroup, at best was broken. Little did they know it was a complete feint, all part of Wallabrydynes great strategy. So began the great fifty mile hop through the night pulling the army away, around, and to Tarata twenty miles upstream. Just two hours after the supposed victory downriver, the small garrison was drinking and partying, and then wooosh… Thousands of grey roos outta nowhere. The line was broken, and the rest of the slower forces hiding behind Lowes Mount pushed through. One flank went straight to Lithgrowl, one to Kangaroomba, the rest to lock the Barkhurst battalion down. And with supply convoys raided and the marzie forces rearmed, they not only finally closed the passes in the Blue Mountains, but actually posed a threat of breaking through to the coast. Most of the mammals who first came to this part of the world actually left about that time, kinda like a preemptive fall of Tigon..."

A while after that, turning a corner, they parked up outside a low slung modern school building, sprawling out in front of them, a sign marking it out as 'Bulkanga High School.' "-Anyway, the Pan-marsupialists were forced to accept that no, they couldn't break the settler cities, and most of the marzies there had built lives for themselves so wouldn't be moving back inland. Likewise the inland independentists realised that the gold would be worthless if they couldn't actually export it. So the Marzie tribal chiefs agreed to the proposal of a federation split between settler cities, filled up with anglicised natives by that point anyhow, and large inland natives states, where settlers could work and live but wouldn't be able to buy or claim land for the next two decades or so, letting the tribes work it and and get first and total dibs. A united capital was set up in Kangberra, a dissenting dingo nation rebelled but was first wrecked by a handy canine distemper outbreak, that happily hopped into their unexposed bodies from the biologically identical wolves, and then defeated by a combined native and settler force. Including tons of both types of tazzie who, wanting back on the mainland and the chance to get at those who forced them off their home continent in the centuries before, volunteered into the first official Pawlawan division. Ha, you can bet Tarabahminnerwait didn't like that! That mad devil was so angry he said that bunch couldn't come back when they lost, so I guess good thing they won. Oh, and the settlers agreed to the bunny ban, and everyone lived happily ever after. The end."

Judy's smile faded immediately as Nick stepped down next to her. "So, Fluff, was that really worth it?"

She closed her eyes. "What bunny ban?"

"The one that stopped new bunnies being transported or emigrating in," the camel shrugged.

"Why?" she pressed.

"The natives thought you'd all breed too much, starve out the settler farms, and force another inland push," Wade said. "And looking back at the history before, they weren't exactly wrong…"

"I ask again Fluff," Nick repeated. "Animal Australia history one-oh-one, or how a society made of hundreds of unique species and cultures that existed independently for millenia suddenly changed their entire language and culture to that of a new, tiny, minority in about fifty years, and were pretty damn cool with it all. That was a fascinating listen, correct?"

"Well first off, it was only the ones near the big coastal cities that did that," Judy said, pointing at her ears. "I actually listened. Two, it actually happened, so you better believe it…"

"I do," Nick said. "Heck, it was even interesting. I just don't respect it. At all. I mean I try, but when you decide to name the key battle, who's fate will decide the destiny of your entire continent, 'the Zig Zag Zoom', it's kind of hard to."

Judy paused, eyes narrowing. "I'd normally tell you off for being rude. But hearing about the bunny ban, I'm beginning to share that feeling."

"Hey, it's nothing personal," Wade said, pointing at Nick. "If he could print out a bajillion babies in three generations, there'd be a fox ban too. I mean, lots of foxes did go to 'Straya, they love it there! But what's the worst they'll do? Have some special hunting advantages against the locals that mean they cause havoc or something?" He blew some air. "Pah! This ain't the savage ages or anything. Next you'll say that just because wolf diseases jumped to and decimated dingoes, essentially the same species but with no resistance, it'd do the same to the marzies that split off hundreds of millions of years ago."

"Why thank you," Nick said, looking back to Judy. "Actually, I think I might be starting to respect the history of the land down under a fair bit. Funny that, huh?"

Judy stared at him through half lidded eyes. "Ha-Ha." Only to be broken off as she saw a tiny little kangaroo joey hopping up to her. Dressed in a suit and tie, with a smile on his face and big chubby cheeks, he bounced up to her, tiny hop after tiny top, before coming to a stop next to them all, eyes level with the smiling bunny. "Aw," she said, "aren't you the cutest thing? Now don't worry, we're here to…"

"Yer here to deal with this cussing mess!" he barked out in a very angry adult voice, crossing his paws. "We've been messed up enough already waiting for you mainlanders to get shipped over, so you better be worth it!" He glared at Judy, the small frown on his chubby little face only somehow managing to make him more cute.

"Well, I'm hoping that too," Wade said, starting to make his way in. "Where've you got the mammal?"

"Meeting room, out back, we told the class there was a personal issue and he wasn't in trouble, as we're not complete morons" he said, before turning and bouncing off as fast as his mini-hops could carry him. Nick and Judy followed along after, the fox scratching his head.

"Fluff. Is it just me, or if you were a roo would you have the urge to dress him up as an elephant and go try and buy a jumbo pop?"

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"So, ready for Kung Fu kits!?"

Haida, body tensing up into a full on action pose, hung there for a second or two as the two fox kits standing by him looked at him, then each other.

"Ehhhhh… Did anything happen to your enthusiasm last night, or is it just me?"

"There was an incident," Kris said.

"Oh."

"And it's also you," Ash added.

Haida blinked, confused for a second. "How can it be both?"

"Your action pose wasn't really that cool," the smaller red fox said. "So we didn't feel the urge to match it."

"Uhhhhh… oh."

"Welcome to the awkward club," Ash added.

The hyena grumbled a bit, scratching behind his neck. "Well, maybe when we get there you'll be in the mood."

"I think maybe the setting had a bigger part to play in all this," Kris confessed, looking around at the rather busy transit plaza around them. They'd met up here, at the Fruit Market transit hub, given that it was easy for Kris to get there from a skytram line near his place, Haida to arrive via the subway, and it would provide another skytram line up to where they were aiming to go. And with that, they headed off to their line, picking their way through the crowds of mammals who were likely there for the exact same set of reasons. Though on the edge of the whole skytram network, FMTH handled by far the most lines of any station, and was easily the most important part of the network, with a direct link to practically every neighbourhood of the core Rainforest District. Which also meant you had to make sure you knew where you were going, else you pick one of over a dozen wrong lines and end up completely lost..

"It's the Cloud Access Skytram, right?" Ash asked, following along and keeping his eyes peeled.

"Cloud Access Furitel," his cousin corrected.

"So I'm right."

"No… a skytram and a furitel are similar but distinct systems that…"

"Are we going over mountains in a cabin hanging underneath a cable?"

"No. We're hanging under two cables."

"Does that really matter?"

"Enough for Woolipedia to have a separate page for it, yes."

Ash raised a paw to protest, only for a loud announcement to break them off. "Found it!" Indeed, Haida was pointing directly at the terminal in question, one of many in its small group. There was a small line, which quickly went down as mammals stepped into the large, bulky cabins.

The doors closed, the cabin accelerated as it was rolled faster and faster out of the station, and with a jolt it was hanging from its cables, one either side, as they swept over the falling city beneath them.

The hyena glanced out of the window and smiled. "Hey, I can see my girlfriend's house from here!"

He pointed to a far off block, stark grey concrete and blocky, but covered in enough vines and vegetation to make it blend in like a long lost temple. Peering out, Ash narrowed his eyes. "I can't see mine…"

…

He looked over at Kris, and gave a motion with his head.

…

Breaking off from the window, he turned and gave his cousin a half lidded stare. "Are you even going to try?"

"I won't be able to see my house from here," he shrugged. "If you can't see yours, mine is in an even more disadvantageous position, and both are blocked by the general geography of the city and the topography. Even if I did care to want to look, there really wouldn't be much point."

"Well you could at least try," Ash continued, jumping back onto his seat.

Haida gave him a look, before turning to Kris, then letting his eyes widen as he peered down through the window. "Hey, that's Old Growth City we're going over. Ooooh, that's the guitar shop I was going to sell my bass equipment at before the nighthowler case was solved."

Both foxes peered over, thinking they caught sight of it only for it to be left behind them as they sailed on and up. They were on the very easternmost of the rainforest lines, skirting up the edge of the great ridge that divided the rainforest from the tundra, and as a result the area was cooler, wetter, and more turbulent. There were a few rattles and little shakes as they passed an odd cleft in the cliff, white snow visible through the small rocky window, and soon drizzle and mist started touching the windows every now and again. They rolled into the stop for Lobelia Lane, only to push on again, passing through Mossgrove and Rhinowenzori before levelling off. The ridge still rose to their right, higher and higher, and clouds shifted and mists rolled on the terraced slopes cut into it. Bamboo groves mixed with various pine trees and various oriental broadleaves filled the increasingly rocky land below, gaps in the foliage created by big rocks sunk in the ground increasingly common. Every now and again, there'd be a house or houses on one, or some kind of activity taking place. The last of the support pylons was built on one, as was the terminal station that they rumbled into, all getting off.

Cloud Forest Station.

End of the line.

"So, where now?" Ash asked, as they exited. A narrow, twisting and turning road, went past them as it coiled its way up and around the rocks, but it was clear that most of the journeying was done by various small paths and stairs.

"I think up there," Haida said, pointing mostly up.

The kits raised the heads, and up above the peaks of the first set of trees, up above various terraces that stepped ever higher and higher into the mountains, perched on a cleft between two massive rocks embedded in the uppermost terrace stood what could best be described as a temple. Various wings were topped with green tiled roofs, while all the walls were whitewashed stone interspersed with thick dark wooden beams. Where present, the windows were square, but the frames inside them intricately detailed out with red painted metalwork, and the great door to the place, in the centre of it all, looked big enough for two elephants to walk through side by side. "Heh. Pretty impressive, right?" Haida commented. "Seems Protein was onto something!"

"That's a long way up," Kris noted, dryly.

Ash looked down at him, blinking a little. "The exercise will be… good…?"

Kris and Haida turned to face him, as he threw up his paws. "I'm used to it being the other way around." He levelled his gaze at his cousin. "You're making progress. Good. It still feels weird."

"Well, come on, I guess…" Haida offered, as he led them on. Over the road, up the nearest set of steps, making their way past a family of clouded leopards on their way down.

Eventually though, with a pant of breath Haida made it to the top. "Mam… I'm getting old."

He paused as Kris walked up next to him, followed by a panting, tired-out Ash.

"Maybe not that old," the hyena said, turning back to the temple. There it stood, ever more expansive from this level as it seemed from the ground. All sorts of detailing was clear, along with the fact that it contained many courtyards, one of which even included a large pagoda, rising up at the back like the giant lobelias they'd passed on the way up.

Haida led them on to the front gate, the massive structure rising high up above them. Rather than being made of planks, it was whole tree trunks, studded together with thick iron. There were handles, and door knockers, but they were a bit out of reach even for the hyena. He paused, scratching his head, before looking down at the kits. "You two good at climbing?"

"Do I look like a grey fox?" Ash asked, then gesturing to his cousin. "Does he?"

"Well… more than you, certainly."

The red fox rolled his eyes.

"I could climb it," Kris said, looking up. "But I don't think that'd make a good impression."

"So what?" Haida asked, "we just knock?"

He tapped the wood with his knuckles a few times, only to pause as a small section of the gate suddenly opened up, a big panda stepping out. "Woah!" he said, looking at them. "You're the guys Protein sent?"

"Uh, yeah," Haida said, paws on his hips.

"Hyena! Awesome! You guys have what, one-thousand one hundred…"

"-PSI JAW STRENGTH!" they finished together.

He turned down to Ash. "Nice costume action hero!" he cheered, a smile somehow managing to work its way onto his muzzle. And then he turned to Kris.

"And woah, you just scream 'the ace'!"

"Ummmm… I guess that wouldn't be completely inaccurate."

"You know it," he said, giving a little swing of his arm out of excitement. "So, ready to learn kung fu!" He hit an action pose, Haida immediately snapping to it.

They looked at each other. "Awesome!"

The hyena couldn't help but smile as he looked back at the kits. "This guy gets it. Isn't that right…. Uh."

The panda put his paws on his hips and gave out a determined, cool look. "My name," he said, staring off dramatically into the sky. "Is Po."

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Carmelita pulled up outside of Kozlov's house and slipped out of her cruiser, alone. She could handle whatever might be thrown up next, no problem.

What concerned her though was whether the polar bear she was looking for could. A glance around the site revealed nothing much had changed from the time they had briefly visited the day before. No vehicle in the driveway, no sign of any occupant, the feeling that this whole thing was going to be fruitless. A glance down at the driveway revealed yesterday's cover of snow, bereft of any new tire marks.

The bear wasn't here.

But, she hoped, he was still around somewhere. And she had to get to him first.

A knock on the door, no answer. But as a life was potentially at risk, she didn't need one. A quick glance around to check that no-one was watching, she was well aware of the optics, and she could quickly pick the door lock with a special tool she'd brought along.

Glancing around, she saw no-one, but sniffing the air…

Fox. Fox somewhere, along with bear. She'd say polar bear, except for that fact she'd encountered a lot earlier in the day, and while polar bear scent had a defiantly fishy undertone this was more… earthy.

Still fish in there, but vegetables, bug meat, a whole omnivorous range. She'd pin it as far more likely to be black, brown, grizzly…

Did the Tundratown Mafia employ any of them?

She ran back over to her cruiser and leapt onto the roof with a pair of bounds, standing up and surveying the area like a meerkat. Making sure the wind was blowing into her face, she stared off… A large house, walled off behind strong walls, stood dead and silent off in the distance.

The old Big estate.

The heart of this empire.

No longer beating.

The scent seemed to be wafting from that direction, and looking closer… Were those paw prints she saw on the thin dusting of snow that covered the road near there?

She couldn't tell.

But for all she knew, it was just some caretakers and civilians in the area.

Maybe even some snooping kids deciding to explore the latest ultimate urban explorers prize destination.

Whatever the case, no-one seemed to be watching her, so back to the door she went. It didn't take long to get it, not that it couldn't have. Stepping inside, the vixen couldn't help but notice that the door was far stronger than a normal one, reinforced with metal, while bolt locks were present but undeployed throughout. Had the occupant of this place wanted it so, it could have been practically welded in place. Indeed, this house was designed and built as a fortress.

But one that the bear thought could do nothing against the forces posed against it, Carmelita mused to herself as she walked through, scenting the air. Thankfully there was a very large file on paw about the occupant, including fur and scent samples. This was his place, but nothing here smelt virgin fresh, not even the clothes on the heavy stand next to the door. A dozen or so hours would have had to have passed, at least, and that meant the bear who lived here hadn't come back after the car chase the night before.

Still, that didn't mean there weren't clues here.

For instance, as she walked through the mix of rooms and corridors, she noticed how neatly everything was folded away or kept. He hadn't been pushed out of here in a rush, or caught out short on a small trip. There were no left out plates or dirty dishes in the kitchen for a start, and in other rooms things had been neatened up and left in their place. There was a strong feeling that he'd somberly known what was coming up, and chosen to almost get his affairs in order before then.

It all made the place feel very ghostly and empty, not helped at all by the persistent barely above freezing chill, or the size of the place. Even factoring in his size, this place would be huge, and terribly empty. No friends, no family, no nothing.

Although…

Carm paused as she saw a black and white photograph resting on a small table. Kozlov and some kind of donkey were standing to attention, dressed in full Russian army regalia amongst a small team. Behind them, rising up from the snowy woods, seemed to be some huge scaffold or something, covering the sky in a mesh of metal towers, wires and… baskets? It was definitely something electrical… -something to do with what he tried to get that swift fox to build?

She held up her shock pistol and looked into its gaping maw, giving the components a look over.

She shook her head and put it back in place, jumping up on the table to have a better look and picking up her phone to take a picture. It was only then, as she moved it slightly to get a good light, that she spotted something in the bottom right corner. Ever so faint, the pencil lines worn thin, but it was there.

Writing.

The first word was four letters long, the first a cyrillic character that looked like a tall box with two small legs hanging off the bottom, then three letters and a number: 'Дyra 2'.

And then below that: 'open oxota'

Or at least, it seemed like it.

"Oxota," she said, her ears tweaking a little. "Could that be the name they gave…"

'Or this could be like the great Russian Pectopah mix up all over again,' she imagined a male voice saying in her mind.

"Says the raccoon who thought that the many 'Mexaha' in Plŭvdiv meant that the Bullgarians were addicted to tacos."

"And now I know it's pronounced meharna and it's where you go to get kavarma!"

She shook off the presence of her long lost ehot in her mind, took the picture of the picture on her phone, and carried on on her way. Someone who knew the language might be able to help, otherwise one backward n and…

She shook it off and carried on searching.

It didn't take her long to find one room that was very interesting. A room with a safe in it. Or rather, a room with a lot of safes in it. An entire wall built up of them, stacked up and alongside each other. "Well that's one way of making it harder," she smiled, crossing her paws. "How would you deal with this one, Sly?"

"Oh that's easy," she imagined him saying. "Get Bentley to work it out. Teamwork makes the dream work!"

She smiled, before imagining a different, nasal, voice buzzing in on line. "I can't do everything Sly! You figure this one out."

"Fine, fine," 'he' said back. "Well, first off if he's only using one it'll both be far more worn and far more scented. If he mixes them up, say this one on Tuesdays, that one on Wednesdays, then the one with the most recent 'scent' on it is your prime suspect. Just a shame I don't have a super foxy nose to do that kind of sniff work. If only there was a ravishing dedicated vixen around with a delightfully sharp sniffer on the end of her muzzle."

"Well how can I say no to that," she said, smiling a little as she took her nose to the safe locks. It didn't take long to find that all were very much newly minted, fresh, clean, smelling of polished metal and only the faintest of faint touches of polar bear… At least, all the ones she'd looked at. There were still plenty to go.

And as she went through, she couldn't help but think that there was another very clever reasons for this set up. To make sure whoever was trying to find something wasted their time on this, while the true treasure was far, far away.

She pulled back, scratching her muzzle, only for her ears to jolt up as they heard something. Paws on her shock pistol, she held it high as she pushed herself onto one of the walls, holding herself close.

Voices, murmurs, clattering.

Someone…

No, a bunch of mammals were inside.

Coming in from elsewhere, she quickly pulled herself back, fully aware of her surroundings at all times. Avoid getting trapped, make sure she could easily get to the front door and her vehicle again, make sure that she got the first shot.

A burst of noise, heavy feet running, and her eyes widened as a slam rang out, followed by a husky russian shout. "Hey you, get out!"

"Aw cripes," she heard someone with a southern accent yell, before they roared. A whoosh of something coming down and snapping hard on flesh, followed by a yell, then a roar. She quickly slipped closer and closer, the sounds and then tremors of what her gut told her was a full on bear fight roaring out. And then…

A muffle whimper in the gut, and a slam of a door closing, followed by a heavy beating on it. "Was brown bear just as you said!" the first voice spoke. And then a far more regular, subdued, but cunning one replied, no hint of a russian accent..

"Dammit, those pests. Always those pests…"

"Holding him out! Front door was open! Closed now."

"Well they'll find another way in," he hissed. "Though when they do…"

" We could lock with security system!" the first voice suggested.

"You know how to use that?"

"Da, let me just…" There was a grinding sound and Carmelita cursed herself. The heavy wooden coat stand by the door, too heavy for her to move, was probably now placed right over her exit. Even if she got there and shocked these mammals to the floor, she wouldn't be able to unlock it or get it open. And even if she did, there was no promising that that brown bear outside was any friendlier.

Never she mind, these mammals had come in a different route, and it was bound to still be open. She just needed to find it, before they…

"Got a scent trail," someone else barked. "Fox, I think!"

"Todd or vixen…" the cunning voice began. "-Doesn't matter, find them. We've got them divided, now conquer."

She grabbed her shock pistol and began jogging along, balancing speed and silence as she finally reached the door, finding herself right. The heavy coat rack was in front of it, even jammed up against the handle, bumping and wiggling as the ursid of unknown allegiance tried to get in. She almost thought about telling him that there was a back way in…

But she shook it off and went away silently. She had enough unknown elements to juggle, and had to focus on her task at paw before the bear sniffing her down caught her up. Fortunately, two could play at that game, and she followed the scent trail left by the bear who'd jammed the door. If he was going back to his boss, then she could tag along for the visit. Around a corner, and she pressed herself back as she spotted him, before carefully looking out around it again. He was turning around the next corner, and so she went down on all fours and rushed to the next point.

A peek around, and there he was, opening up a panel under the stairs and booting up a computer screen.

By his side, a fox with dark red fur looked on, a sneer on his muzzle and teeth slightly bared. He held a picture frame, potentially the 'open oxota' one, in his right paw. Carmelita dove down underneath a nearby set of drawers, ear tips and tail topside brushing against the dusty underside as she prowled forward. Out of its cover, a quick dart to the next, any noise covered as the bear explained on. "-So you see map of house here, and push button."

The ringing of heavy bolts jolting into position echoed around the building, alongside an annoyed tone from the computer. 'Breach detected.' It monotonely narrated. 'Breach detected.'

"That's just where we came in. We can close it but leave it unlocked as an escape route," the fox said, waving the bear on. "I want cameras to study the outside, I want to know where that dimwitted ursid is and keep an eye on him. And I want to know if there's a panic room or something to look through in here. I need anything that could point us to where that damn polar bear went. As the sooner I find him and get that stinking rat his dumb necklace, the sooner I can focus on what I actually came to this city for!"

"That is far as I know," the bear confessed, as Carm snuck ever so slightly past them.

"-Hey, you seen fox!?" came a yell, and Carmelita glanced back to see the bear who'd been tracking her at the end of the corridor. The bear and fox next to her looked over his way, before glancing around, eyes landing right on her.

She pulled her weapon up and aimed it right at them, as the other fox did the same with his revolver.

"Don't even think about it," they both said, eyes locked.

Carmelita took a careful step back, glancing around from the computer screen to the fox to the two bears behind him. Right paw still holding the frame, the vulpine held his gun in his left paw, and Carmelita watched as it wavered slightly, unsteady.

The fox just kept his eyes laser focussed as he sneered. "Reusing the same disguise…" he said, grunting a bit. "Are you running out of ideas or do you just want to rub it all in?"

Carmelita paused. Same disguise…? -Just play along. She smiled. "What can I say," she said, even giving a sassy little hip wiggle, before narrowing her gaze. "Some things are so good you simply cannot only use them once."

"Well, I suppose I at least have one up over your boyfriend now at least," he smiled. "Actually, make that three up. Given that I'll have his squeeze under my paw, and his fat sidekick dead by the end of this. You stupid merry mammals have been a thorn in my side for years… But it ends today, at my own paws! And trust me, after today, those aren't the ones you really need to worry about."

"Oh, is it not?" Carmelita sassed, giving another glance up at the screen, for as much time as she felt she could.

"There's a very angry, very nasty, rat I work with. One who used to be friends with a goat. Remember him?"

"How could I not," she said, eyes widening a little. Maybe today would be useful, if she got out alive. Another quick glance up. "Oh, how he sang and sang."

"When I bring you to my new partner, you'll scream…" he hissed, as he lowered his gun slightly. "But he won't get the first taste, my little maid. Oh no, that honour goes to me."

"Does it now?" Carm asked, raising her eyes and locking them on him. "To the angry, bossed about, glorified goon."

His eyes widened, and his teeth gritted. "Really, after years of being your nemesis, the one to replace John the worst… That's all you have?"

"But it hits a nerve, doesn't it?" she said, leaning in and watching his whiskers twitch. "I heard you complaining, and who wouldn't. Who could possibly even hope to be treated as an equal, worthy of respect, by that rat."

The fox began to growl, as Carmelita sprinkled in the salt.

"What a long, sad, way to fall. "

"Only to rise," he spoke, grin growing. "All our pathetic little games before, this is the one that'll make me, the one where I'll win for good. And as for Rattigan? Oh, he's just a mammal with high standards, ones I'll very much meet when I bring you in for him."

She rolled her eyes. "You really think that."

"I really think that he likes his revenge, and he likes it when his sick lover gets playthings that she can enjoy disassembling. I'll make sure they'll leave enough for me to enjoy though, it really doesn't have to be much." He let out a heavy wet huff, licking his lips. "Just the bare minimum to produce a Jr for myself…" His salivating grin grew as he raised up his eyebrows twice. "That'll teach your tod... "

Carmelita felt her grip tightened around her gun, aiming at his ugly mug, and pictured herself frying that grin off his face. "Do you want to hear what I'll do when I drag you out of here?"

"Hah," he chuckled, shaking his head and lowering his gun a little. "I'll say this, you'd make a fine poker player. But it's all over now. So put down the stupid toy gun thing and answer me this… -Which, ha, knee, do you write with?"

Carmelita took a breath in, a breath out, stared him down…

And then pulled her trigger and pounced up, the explosion of the gun shooting at where her knee just was masking the sound of her shock pistol charging up until its crackling projectile launched out in a flash of light. She saw his eyes widen and the bears duck away before twisting in the air, bounding forward on all fours as a chilling buzz and a vulpine scream rang out behind her. Followed by the roar of the bears as they charged in for their attack. Carm got back up onto two legs and swung around to take them out, only to leap to the side as a massive vase crashed down next to her, splashing her with frigid water and causing her to jump one way, then another as the table it was on exploded into splinters as it crashed down to her side. A flurry of blind shots rang out, screaming out of her shock pistol and sparking against the walls, lightbulbs exploding as she turned a corner, the bears beginning to barrel after her.

"YOU CANNOT RUN!" one yelled.

"YOU CANNOT HIDE!" the other followed.

Off balance as she turned a corner, Carm let herself roll over onto her haunches, one leg in front of her and one to the side. Her arms pulled up and fixed themselves rigid and straight, her shock pistol like a cannon in front of her, ready to fry the bears when they came around the corner.

There was a crashing and some bumps, even a curse from one of the bears, and her smile grew. Only to vanish as the fronts of two tables emerged from behind the wall, shuffled and held along by the two bears behind. Frowning, she fired into each of them, her frown increasing as she only produced an interesting burn pattern on the front. The tables paused, and the arms came out from behind and lobbed heavy telephone book sized texts at her. She rolled to avoid a War and Peace concussion and an Anna Kotenina knock out, before leaping back down the corridor as fast as her legs could take her, all while the boulder-like rumble of the table shielded bears nipped at her tail.

Left here, right there, she tried her best to remember what she saw and hoped that as she turned the corner… -The door to the small sitting room was open, the outside there and waiting for her. She picked up her speed, as she…

BANG!

She jittered to a stop, jumping up as another bullet sailed between her legs. Keep yourself moving, she told herself, as she kept her feet dancing around, barely dodging two more shots as she positioned herself to shoot back on the attacker.

Her eyes snapped to and locked on the fox, kneeling behind a fireplace spit-grate that he'd dragged in, picture frame out of sight but gun now in his right paw.

There was a hiss in her throat, and a smug, punchable grin from his singed up face. "I saw you looking at that map," he said, as the polar bears arrived in with a rumble, tables still held defensively in front of them. "And while my ursid companions are certainly intelligent, with their countermeasures… I chose something far more elegant."

Carm gripped her shock pistol tight to her chest, all while bouncing from leg to leg as if playing keepy-uppies. "I can still get their legs or arms, that is all I need," she spat.

The fox, fur still all frizzed up from before, levelled a cold glare at her. "You can give up the accent now," he spoke, before firing. The blast caused her ears to ring and she yipped as the bullet grazed through her leg fur. "I'd say you're really lucky I want to bring you in alive, but that would be a big fat lie all things considered," he said, keeping himself ducked behind his metal shield, pistol pointing awkwardly over the top. "Honestly I'm now interested in just how much that creepy cat could remove from you. Limbs, tail, fur, eyes, ears, bottom muzzle, tongue... It'd probably be easier listing the things you'd end up keeping." She paid him no mind, All while the bears shuffled up, closer and closer.

"You do realise the police will be on the way," she said.

"The mammals around here aren't the type to call the ZPD."

"The police are way closer than you think."

"You don't think I can't take you down too," he smirked. "The stories I could spill about you and your currently useless brown friend out there. Hmmmm… After all, you've all made a lot of enemies in high places too, you and your little gang of three. 'The new Cooper gang' was it?" He let out a barking laugh and shook his head.

Carmelita's eyes widened, both at the mention of whoever he was out there, and the monicker they seemed to have earned. Maybe an impromptu alliance wouldn't have been such a risk, though that bridge couldn't be relied on now. Still, she had her own cards left. "You do realise there's a cruiser right outside the front?" she smirked. "A big one. Big enough for a few polar bears of its own to fit in."

His muzzle tweaked a bit. "You really think I'll fall for my own tricks," he snarked. "Here's what's going to happen. You try an escape through that door, the snow will slow you down and I'll get you in the knee and haul you in. You stay here, you'll get tired eventually and then the same thing happens. You try and fire at us, the others will get you. Checkmate."

Carmelita gritted her muzzle, looking around. A cramp was growing fast in her grazed leg. "So, no win then?" she said.

He smiled. "Basically, yeah."

"But nothing to lose either."

His eyes narrowed.

"So, no harm in trying something crazy." She fired at him, leaping up and towards one of the bears, as the explosion of the gun and the roar of the bears rang out. She felt her tail fur get tugged as the bullet sailed through and as the lightning arc washed up against the spit grate and into the ground, the smiling fox behind pulling his revolver back for a final shot. Carmelita only had a moment to curse the fact that he'd reloaded after the first, before firing again, this time over the grate. His eyes widened and he leapt out of the way, a coil of charge glancing at his tail.

His paw tightened, the gun fired harmlessly into a corner, she was safe.

Only for the bears to come in, tables pulling out of the way as she lunged right at them. But she'd launched herself at them with a plan, and kicked off the edge of the table with all fours, changing her direction towards the door, firing another shot at the fox before he could aim again. Down on all fours, she ran out the door, and pulled herself around the corner so she was running along the side. And aiming back as she went, covering the doors as one of the bears pulled himself back to grab his table again, only for the fox to leap out underneath and draw.

Carmelita pulled herself around the corner of the house and ran up to the fence that cut off the back garden from the front, bounding up a shrub bed and then leaping in a vulpine arc over the fence, letting the tips of the planks graze against her belly. She grabbed her shock pistol in her jaw, bit it tight, and landed on her front paws, pulling her front forward and letting her back legs kick her off on impact. Ploughing through the snow like a fleeing feral, she turned the next corner as the smashing of a gate behind her rang out. But, onto the lightly covered driveway, she went back on her hind legs and pulled out her car keys, pressing the bleeper. No sign of the brown bear… Even though he'd be very useful right now. The heavy cruiser unlocked as she scrabbled around the side, pulling open the door, jumping in, and pulling it closed. Up the adjustable seat she went, her feet feeling around for the pedal extensions as she grabbed the radio and began calling it in.

Her eyes were fixed forward as the trio came around only to freeze, the fox's eyes blinking in shock. She even smirked as his head tilted. "Vulpine suspect looks confused," sheadded, signing off.

Only to pause as he raised his gun at the windscreen, right at her.

A sinking in her gut told her that no, this wouldn't be bulletproof, and the look on his face screamed 'sod alive, I'm taking you in dead.'

She ducked down, just in time for it to explode all over her. "In that case I am outta here," she hissed, turning the engine on and slamming into reverse as she pulled out, two more shots hitting the bodywork and ringing around.

Retreat to a safe distance, monitor, wait for backup.

Even if it meant risking the loss of the perp.

Even if it meant one of Rattigan's lieutenants, potentially one who'd been very active and important. Even if…

A yell came out from in front, and daring to peek up she saw the fox slumped on the floor, cradling his head as the bears picked him up. They stared up at the roof and raising her eyes, Carmelita couldn't help but laugh.

Up there was the brown bear.

Ripping off tiles or stone decorations and chucking them down, forcing the white ursids back.

But one had the gun, too small for his paws but he was doing his best. And that was still a lethal weapon.

She raised her shock pistol and fired off one shot, then two, watching them sail through the air only to start to dim and fade. The bears saw it and, grabbing their fox, they ran, even as her shots whimpered out of existence far short.

She grit her teeth and cursed. Out of charge! She was a sitting duck without this.

She shook her head, cuss that!

Pulling around a corner, she parked up next to a building and got out, leaping on top of her car and then on top of the building. A sting came from her leg, but she could cope with it, as she climbed to the top to have an overview of the area.

And there, parked at the back of the Kozlov's home, were five high speed snowmobiles. They came in cross country, they would be going out the same way. Indeed, they were running to them now, getting on, preparing to flee. But pulling her shock pistol open, she pulled out both specialist charge packs and slotted in her spares. It purred, ready, and with her fur standing ever so slightly on end she fired a flurry of shots. With each one she felt the charge in her fur and the air buzzing and crackling as the hurled lightning danced and played with the falling snow as it sailed along. But sail along was the operative word, and they could see them coming. She could only hope it would hit and mess up their vehicles, but one of the bears had a table and let it absorb the shots, etching its top with a glowing red char pattern.

A red figure amongst them, still cradling his head, turned and spotted them, aiming up, forcing her to duck behind a chimney as she heard bullets whiz past. There was a roar of engines, and they raced off into the backwoods.

Carm slipped back down to her vehicle, grabbing the radio and calling it in. If they could get a helicopter or something, or track them before they disappeared to wherever it was…

A look up and she gritted her teeth, it was starting to snow. Hard. Did the snow machines in this place run on a schedule? If so, this whole thing was probably timed very nicely indeed. She called it in, asking if they could cancel the snow fall.

The responder said that it was the kind of thing that had to be escalated to the Chief. He'd try, but…

Carm gritted her teeth.

A close call, but no victory. But… they weren't the only ones here.

The other bear, that potential ally, or potential enemy… Foot forward, she raced along, back to the house. Along the side was an impact left by something heavy coming down on a wooden patio, shards of decking sticking up at odd angles. But getting out, shock pistol raised, she saw that he'd moved off quickly, and showed no sign of any injury.

Back route again.

Snowmobiles, potentially, again.

Her leg stinging, she couldn't catch up with that.

She sat down and huffed, only to pause as she saw a few small pawprints next to his, carrying on a little bit before vanishing, as if jumping up into the bear's paws. She raised her paws over it and sat it down, her boot print neatly covering it.

"So you did bring your vixen here?" she asked, before trailing off. She didn't know. She didn't know what side they were on. But she did know that they weren't exactly the most legal of mammals. New Cooper gang? She stroked her chin. What would what was left of the old Cooper gang think of that?

'Speaking as the founder: Crappy reboot!'

She shook her head. She'd lost contact with Bentley years ago, though she knew that if he wanted he could contact her from anywhere in the world in a minute or two. And with them?

Well at least she could trust their consistent grade of dishonesty.

For all she knew they were all dead too…

She stood there, musing for a bit, before shaking her head to get her out of it. It was unimportant, and wasting time. All she truly knew was that the polar bear known as Kozlov was being hunted, and his life, and the lives of countless, countless others, depended on her being the one to find him first.

.

.

AN: I think I've said a few times before that I spiritually prefer the 'Zootopia is its own world with, if not its own geography, its own political geography' to 'Zootopia is a city in our world politically and socially but furry animals.' The only reason I'm not doing that is the Sly Cooper crossover, which is 'furry but our world' to every globe hopping thread in its goddam bleeding earnest heart. And the trouble is that our politics and history would not have gone the same way if we were animals… The ability for bats to fly alone would have enormous ramifications…

Now to be fair, you can kind of bodge old world history to be the same… New world history though is a whole other ballgame. The disease buffer from species difference (both not catching a disease optimised for your species' biology AND having lots of species which could act as a natural spread dampener) and inability to interbreed (especially critical where a small tribe finds a giant city sprouting up next door) means indigenous cultures would be orders of magnitude more resilient. Realistically I'd say that the natives would have kept the USA (if it even forms) bound behind the Appalachians, or the Mississippi at most. But again, given that I can't see Antebelum slavery becoming a thing in this furry animal world and thus no civil war, maybe they had the troops spare to make the push. That's what I wrote for this world back in Jack's 'History of the Wild West' in the triple date episode. So maybe, just maybe, you can make it work.

And THEN you get onto the cataclysmic worldbuilding disaster that is furry Australia, where all this is roided up on steroids in dialed to 11.

Apart from dingoes, who'd face those two issues in spades (being about as different to wolves as aboriginal Australians are to other humans), you have an entire group of mammals with over 100 million years of evolution to split themselves apart, including an entirely different reproductive system. Heck, even the land use conflicts and such would be vastly dulled down: carnivores everywhere would have likely been forced to develop food sources such as bug or bird farming and fishing to supplement their diet millenia ago anyhow, while it's not like the settlers would be fencing off huge tracts of land for sheep farming and then getting angry at their sheep being speared.

I mean, maybe I hinted at a plausible historic set of events that could lead to all the continent being united and all the native mammals abandoning their millenia old cultures and languages and becoming stereotypical Aussies, albeit with many still retaining a closer link to indigenous cultures a-la New Zealand (on steroids)… Maybe I should have just noted that there was something in Vegemite that made it 'The Cuss' for marsupials so they were happy enough to throw all their history away for more of that precious precious yeast extract. But realistically, furry Australia would end up much closer to India (united together, maybe Tasmania is independent like Sri Lanka) or Africa (lots of different states) or a functional two states Israel/Palestine (multiple united or independent settler coastal city states, bordering a central native country)…

(And it's also worth noting that this is all still assuming that Australians are hunter-gatherers at the time of first contact… There's a very interesting Alternate-History work called 'Lands of Red and Gold' that actually goes into this. Australia has plenty of native species that could make truly excellent domestication crops (both ideal for hot and dry environments and, being perennials, requiring far less input time than say wheat or rice that needs planting every year) if a society knew what it was doing. The trouble is, they have nothing like wheat, corn, potatoes or rice to act as an 'introduction'/foundation crop that in its native state could support a small society and teach them the basics… Well, I say that but they have one that is so close, the native daisy yams… Which Aboriginals will help grow by burning grasses, and do soil tilling of to split up the tubers and grow more… It's almost there, but not quite (Lands of red and gold is based on a mutation making a variety of this larger, thus enough to sustain a semi-settled society and provide the foundation). Now, in an animal universe… Presuming the dingoes come across around 3,000 years ago… They may well bring agriculture and western crops like wheat with them (something I'm using in a potential IP of mine), and that sets up the first foundation with native crops then being domesticated on top of that and eventually taking over. But, at the same time, while those natural yams may not be able to sustain a human settlement, they'd be easily able to supply a dunnart or a wallaby one, smaller animals needing less food… And so I could easily see agriculture starting in smaller species, though given a dozen or so generations selective breeding could make the crops large and bountiful enough to allow even the largest native animal to settle and farm. -Aside over…)

Whatever way it goes, if you still have european settlement the stereotypical aussies would be european mammals in the main coastal towns, ending up a lot like the Afrikaners and Boers in South Africa… Indeed, this would probably be a far likelier place for apartheid to occur than furry SA, for the same reasons I don't think antebellum slavery and jim crow would be a thing in the furry deep south.

(For the furry pre-1860 US there isn't a 'one glance and you can tell' marker for who's a slave and who isn't, and without that there's nothing stopping unlucky members of the slaver group being captured and turned into slaves, or slaves escaping, claiming they're free and no-one being able to prove otherwise… It all breaks the chance of popular support and the mechanics of that specific form of slavery (which isn't to say african mammals couldn't be brought across in chains. I could easily see them being traded and sold, albeit as indentured servants, like numerous europeans who'd eventually be freed. But that (as far as I can believe) wouldn't result in the same impacts as the form of slavery we had in our world (from the civil war to jim crow to onwards). And you could say that the preds were the slaves or african mammals were the slaves, but pred and prey would have coexisted for millenia in the old world… And pre-humans, many african animals such as lions and such lived in europe, even before the furry roman empire would have certainly mixed things up (I still love the idea of Elephants in furry UK who can trace their line back to those brought in to build Howldrians wall). Regardless, I can't see the mechanics for 'our history' to come about exactly as it did.)

Though coming back to Australia, there's also a fun little thing to note about its little brother. New Zealand, or rather, 'the place where all the european settlers would actually go'. In a mammal only universe, there'd probably be far fewer european australians, with furry New Zealand next door being genuinely unpopulated (except for some bats and seals… Or you could write that the Taiwanese Black bears did the polynesian stuff and plenty ended up here as part of that) and turning out VERY like it is irl, but probably with a far higher population (from those who'd otherwise go to Oz) and no maori stuff… Of course, as I couldn't not include Washimi in this universe, I had the caveat that birds did begin to go sentient, but it mostly failed… And in such a case the one singular place where it certainly wouldn't fail would be NZ. So in this universe, NZ is the place where 90% of the sentient birds are. All thanks to the baddest bitch in the room.

Anyway, just my musings, and making it clear I don't have anything against the aussies irl, (AUSTRALIA! AUSTRALIA! AUSTRALIA! We love you. Amen!) it's just the fact I think that the furry version we all imagine is a nigh on impossible worldbuilding catastrophe.

…

Anyway, next week will be a drabble as this was a long chapter, but after that there'll be at least four FFOZ chapters released weekly..Oh and yeah. Hope you enjoyed the big fight scene. -And Po. YES, he is in this.